DHAKA: At least 26 people were killed when a speedboat packed with passengers collided with a vessel transporting sand on Monday in the latest maritime disaster to hit Bangladesh.

Police said the speedboat carrying about three dozen passengers from the town of Mawa rammed into the other vessel in the Padma river as it neared the main river station in the central rural town of Shibchar.

“We have so far recovered 26 bodies including a woman. We have also rescued five injured people including three children,” police official Amir Hossain told AFP.